Tonight's Movie: Torrid Zone (1940) - A Warner Archive Blu-ray Review

The very entertaining Warner Bros. film TORRID ZONE (1940) has just been released on Blu-ray by the Warner Archive Collection.

I first reviewed TORRID ZONE here nearly two decades ago, in 2007. I very much enjoyed it then, but I don't think I'd seen it again in the years since.

What a treat to finally revisit the movie on this new Blu-ray, which looks absolutely terrific. Thanks to this release, TORRID ZONE is more enjoyable than ever.

Pat O'Brien plays Steve Case, the hard-edged manager of a Central American banana enterprise. Steve resents Nick Butler (James Cagney) for helping end his marriage, but he also needs Butler's help and manipulates him into staying on the job when Butler intends to leave for the U.S.

Ann Sheridan plays Lee Donley, a pretty American entertainer (and occasional card cheat) who Steve tries to run out of town. Lee and Nick run into each other, sparks fly, and Lee ends up smack dab in the middle of things on the banana plantation.

The 88-minute story essentially finds O'Brien, Cagney, and Sheridan going in circles with one another, arguing and romancing, while interacting with a tremendous supporting cast which includes Andy Devine, George Tobias, Jerome Cowan, George Reeves, Helen Vinson, Grady Sutton, John Ridgely, and Frank Puglia.

Perhaps the plot doesn't really go much of anywhere, yet how can anyone not love it? Time spent with this cast is a joy.

The sharp script was written by Jerry Wald and Richard Macaulay, with William Keighley directing and James Wong Howe filming in beautiful black and white.

As I noted in my 2007 review, some have compared this film to the same year's HIS GIRL FRIDAY (1940), as it's a "workplace comedy" with a similar fast-talking, combative yet funny tone. I think it's an apt comparison.

The chemistry of the three leads is a big key to the movie's success. O'Brien and Cagney may battle throughout, yet the audience knows that deep down they really depend on each other. The two actors, lifelong friends, were in nine films together.

Cagney and Sheridan also have a pleasingly sparky chemistry, and I particularly got a kick out of her repartee with Tobias in a seriocomic as a revolutionary leader. There's a moment she yells "Touchdown!" when he escapes that cracked me up.

Among the supporting cast, Devine adds a cozy comedic touch, and look for Reeves in an unexpected role as a Tobias henchman.

The Warner Archive Blu-ray is from a 1080P HD master from 4K scans of the original nitrate camera negative. As has happily become common when it comes to the Warner Archive, both the print and sound quality are top notch.

Three of the Blu-ray extras duplicate what appeared on the 2007 James Cagney Signature Collection DVD years ago: The 10-minute short OZZIE NELSON & HIS ORCHESTRA (1940), directed by Roy Mack; the 20-minute Technicolor short PONY EXPRESS DAYS (1940) with George Reeves, directed by B. Reeves Eason; the Tex Avery cartoon A WILD HARE (1940).

Excellent extras which are new to this disc are two Screen Guild Theater radio broadcasts. A 1940 production runs 26 minutes and features Cagney and Tobias from the movie cast, along with Brian Donlevy and Joan Bennett. Tobias returns in a 27-minute 1942 production starring George Raft, Jack Carson, and Paulette Goddard. Hearing these "alternate casts" with big stars in condensed radio versions is great fun.

Thanks to the Warner Archive for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray. Warner Archive Blu-rays may be ordered from Movie Zyng, Amazon, and other online retailers.

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New at Classic Movie Hub: The War Wagon (1967)

My latest Western RoundUp column for Classic Movie Hub is a review of the John Wayne film THE WAR WAGON (1967).

THE WAR WAGON was just released on Blu-ray and 4K by Kino Lorber Studio Classics. 

I reviewed the Blu-ray, which is a beautiful print from a 4K scan of the original 35mm camera negative. 

It was my first time to see the movie, and I quite enjoyed it.

Please click over to Classic Movie Hub to read my review, and thanks to all who support my Western RoundUp column!

Previous Classic Movie Hub Western RoundUp Column Links: June 2018; July 2018; August 2018; September 2018; October 2018; November 2018; December 2018; January 2019; February 2019; April 5, 2019; April 30, 2019; May 2019; June 2019; July 2019; August 2019; September 2019; October 2019; November 2019; December 2019; January 2020; February 2020; March 2020; April 2020; May 2020; June 2020; July 2020; August 2020; September 2020; October 2020; November 2020; December 2020; January 2021; February 2021; March 2021; May 2021; June 2021; June 2021 (No. 2); July 2021; August 2021; September 2021; November 2021; December 2021; December 2021 (No. 2); January 2022; February 2022; March 2022; April 2022; May 2022; June 2022; July 2022; August 2022; September 2022; November 2022; November 2022 (No. 2); January 2023 (No. 1); January 2023 (No. 2); March 2023; April 2023; May 2023 (No. 1); May 2023 (No. 2); June 2023; July 2023; September 2023; September 2023 (No. 2); October 2023; November 2023; December 2023; January 2024; February 2024; March 2024; April 2024; May 2024; June 2024; July 2024; August 2024; September 2024; October 2024; November 2024; December 2024; January 2025; February 2025; March 2025; April 2025; May 2025; June 2025; July 2025; August 2025; September 2025; October 2025; November 2025; January 2026 (No. 1); January 2026 (No. 2); February 2026; March 2026; April 2026; June 2026 (No. 1); June (No. 2); July 2026; August 2026.

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Around the Blogosphere This Week...

...will not appear this weekend.

The column will return on Saturday, October 3rd.

For recent classic film news links, please visit my September 12th column.

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Repost: More Happy Autumn!

NOTE: While I'm offline this week, here's another fall post to enjoy, this time from 2022.

Happy Autumn!

To celebrate, here's a sequel to last year's fall post, featuring a few autumnal movie magazine covers of the 1940s.

Ginger Rogers, September 1946:

Gene Tierney, October 1946:

Olivia de Havilland, October 1947:

Claudette Colbert, October 1940:

Lana Turner, October 1944:

Irene Dunne, October 1941:

Shirley Temple, November 1943:

And on the September 1943 edition of Movie Show, Rita Hayworth seems to be getting ready for Thanksgiving early!

Happy Fall!

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Repost: Happy Autumn!

NOTE: I'm traveling this week so while I'm gone, please enjoy the first day of fall with this seasonal photo post from half a decade ago.

Happy Autumn!

In honor of the season, here are a few fall movie magazine covers featuring favorite classic film actresses. Enjoy!

Ann Sheridan on Photoplay in November 1943:

Jeanne Crain, Photoplay, October 1948:

Gene Tierney on Screen Album in 1941:

Lana Turner in an October issue of Photoplay:

An October issue of Movie Mirror with Olivia de Havilland:

Lizabeth Scott on Modern Screen in 1947:

Enjoy the season!

Update: Happy Autumn 2022.

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Tonight's Movie: Woman of the North Country (1952) at Cinecon

One of the films I was most interested to see at Cinecon last Labor Day was WOMAN OF THE NORTH COUNTRY (1952).

This Republic Pictures film was another real rarity. To my knowledge, it's never had an authorized release for home viewing.

Going into the movie "cold," I expected a film with actors like Rod Cameron, Jim Davis, and John Agar to be a Western, but while it had a "Western" setting, WOMAN OF THE NORTH COUNTRY proved to be more of a melodrama, centered around the title character.

Ruth Hussey plays Christine Powell, one of a trio of Minnesota siblings who are wealthy thanks to iron ore.

Christine's brother David (Agar) doesn't have a head for business, so Christine pushes for control, backed by their other brother, murderous, greedy Steve (Davis).

Christine loves money and power and can be downright malevolent to get what she wants -- makes you wonder who raised these siblings! -- and she wants to thwart the success of geologist Kyle Ramlo (Cameron).  Christine has her eye on Kyle's nearby land lease, where he's found ore near the surface of his claim.

Christine goes to the extent of luring Kyle away from his sweetheart Cathy (Gale Storm) and convincing him to marry her; she bides her time for a couple of years before making moves to destroy her husband's business. 

This is the bare outline of a very detailed, convoluted plot which packs numerous twists and turns into its 90 minutes. The screenplay by Norman Reilly Raine was from a story by Charles Marquis Warren and Prescott Chaplin.

I'm not sure I'd ever seen Hussey play a character like this before; Christine is a truly awful woman, and Hussey conveys the ice in her veins from her first appearance. We never really know what motivates her, but she appears to have simply been born bad.  Double-crossing her own loving husband after a couple of years was truly "something else" to behold.

Hussey's character contrasts strongly with Storm as the warm Cathy; honestly, even with Kyle not realizing Christine's true nature, it's hard to believe he'd dump Cathy for the chillier Christine. I'm quite a fan of Rod Cameron's, but I think his role needed an actor with more nuance who could convey deep-seated emotions, perhaps someone like Dana Andrews.

Cameron and Storm, incidentally, had previously costarred in STAMPEDE (1949).

Agar was barely used in the film as the ineffectual David, making me wonder if any of his part was left on the cutting-room floor.  Davis comes off better in a sparky performance as the evil Steve.

The extensive cast also includes Jay C. Flippen, J. Carrol Naish, Hank Worden, Grant Withers, Barry Kelley, Taylor Holmes, Howard Petrie, Thurston Hall, and Virginia Brissac.

The movie was directed by longtime Western specialist Joseph Kane, who had previously directed Cameron in BRIMSTONE (1949). They also made RIDE THE MAN DOWN (1952) the same year as WOMAN OF THE NORTH COUNTRY and SAN ANTONE (1953) the following year.

WOMAN OF THE NORTH COUNTRY was filmed in Trucolor by Jack Marta, who also worked on several of the Kane-Cameron collaborations. All three men also worked on SPOILERS OF THE FOREST (1957) which coincidentally will be shown in a restored print at this year's Lone Pine Film Festival with Rod's son Tony in attendance.

The opening credits of the print shown at Cinecon, along with a couple later scenes, were in black and white, with the rest a fabulous Trucolor print. What a treat to see it!  While not a top-notch film and quite different from what I expected, I enjoyed it.

The final movie of the day, THAT'S MY GAL (1947), had some of the most striking Trucolor I've ever seen, heavy on the mint green and orange. It looked amazing!

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Around the Blogosphere This Week...

...will not appear this weekend.

The column will also not appear on September 26th.

Around the Blogosphere This Week will return on Saturday, October 3rd.

In the meantime, I have prescheduled some posts for the coming week, so please check back periodically for new content.

For the most recent classic film news links, please visit my September 12th column.

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Repost: Tonight's Movie: Cars (2006)

NOTE: A few days ago I went to a 20th anniversary screening of CARS (2006). Has it really been that long since it came out?!

I'm not certain if I'd seen the film in its entirety since I reviewed it in 2006; it was long enough since my last viewing that it really felt fresh and new. The movie is endlessly creative in a way we perhaps now take for granted, given the passing of a couple decades.

Below is a short review from the early days of this blog, updated with a couple new images. If, like me, you haven't seen CARS in years -- or perhaps ever -- I recommend enjoying it.

Please also visit my 2012 photo posts of Cars Land at Disney California Adventure, beginning here, with more linked at the bottom of that post. As I rediscovered watching CARS, the full-sized version created in Anaheim is remarkably faithful to the film!

One of our traditions is that we gift the family with a new DVD on Thanksgiving, which we all sit down together to watch after dinner.

Tonight's movie was the Disney/Pixar animated film CARS (2006), which the rest of the family saw last summer but which was new to me.

I enjoyed it very much. As a NASCAR fan I got a particular kick out of the race sequences, including appearances by "Darrell Cartrip" and "Junior."

I also loved the depiction of Route 66. The souvenir store in Radiator Springs was very much like the store we stopped in in Barstow on our way to the Grand Canyon a couple years ago! The concept of a world in which everything -- even bugs -- is some form of car was unique.

The film has an impressive voice cast, especially Paul Newman as Doc, the long-retired racing car. Did his role and performance remind anyone else a bit of Burt Lancaster in FIELD OF DREAMS (1989)?

Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, and Billy Crystal even recorded new "car-based" TOY STORY (1995) and MONSTERS, INC. (2001), sequences for the end credits tribute to John Ratzenberger, the only actor to have appeared in every Pixar film. Be sure not to skip the end credits when you watch. :)

CARS runs 116 minutes. It was directed by John Lasseter and Joe Ranft.

It's available on DVD.

If, like me, you are late to seeing CARS for the first time, I recommend it. A good time was had by all.

Update: Here's a review of CARS 3 (2017).

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Tonight's Movie: The Second Greatest Sex (1955) at Cinecon

I'm a Jeanne Crain fan, so one of the movies I was most delighted to see at Cinecon on Labor Day was THE SECOND GREATEST SEX (1956).

THE SECOND GREATEST SEX is, to my knowledge, not available in any authorized home viewing format. Seeing this Technicolor CinemaScope film in a good print on a large screen was thus a particular treat!

I must have read about the movie in my Jeanne Crain books in years past, but it had escaped my mind that THE SECOND GREATEST SEX is a musical.

Given that, I was quite surprised when the movie began with Jeanne (dubbed by Doreen Tryden) singing "What Good is a Woman Without a Man." (And I have to say, I haven't been able to get this tune, written by Phil Moody and Doris "Pony" Sherrell, out of my head ever since!)

The frankly nonsensical plot has the men of Osake, Kansas, vying with two other towns to be the country seat. Battles between the towns for a safe containing papers authorizing the county seat have kept the menfolk away for extended periods, and Liza (Crain) is thus missing her on-again, off-again boyfriend Matt Davis (George Nader).

The men come home with the safe and Liza agrees to marry Matt, but on their wedding night the townsmen take off again when the safe is stolen.

Liza, inspired by Aristophanes' LYSISTRATA, leads the townswomen in locking themselves into a fort. When the men return they learn the women will only return to town -- and their men -- if the men finally agree to a truce and stay home for good.

Given that the women of the other two towns are also in the fort, one guess how the movie ends...

Was THE SECOND GREATEST SEX a good movie? No, not really. But was it entertaining and interesting for various reasons? Definitely yes.

One of the things which fascinated me was the film's obvious inspiration from both SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS (1954) and OKLAHOMA! (1955); in the latter case it was more so inspired by the stage show than the movie, which debuted in theaters almost simultaneously with THE SECOND GREATEST SEX.

Like SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS, the movie's central plotline is based around ancient literature.

THE SECOND GREATEST SEX also features big group dance numbers, with Tommy Rall (Frank of SEVEN BRIDES) front and center.

For that matter, Bill Lee, who dubs George Nader, also dubbed Matt Mattox in SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS, notably in that film's "Lonesome Polecat" number.

In THE SECOND GREATEST SEX the tempestuous relationship of Liza and Matt rather mimics the loving-battling relationship of Curly and Laurey from OKLAHOMA!

THE SECOND GREATEST SEX, like OKLAHOMA!, features a dream ballet, and one of its big group numbers echoes "The Farmer and the Cowman" just a bit.

Wedding night community shenanigans also emulate OKLAHOMA!, only in this case it's chasing after a stolen safe rather than a shivaree. As a musicals fan, I found it fascinating to make these comparisons.

Unfortunately THE SECOND GREATEST SEX does not repeat the success of SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS as an original movie musical, for a variety of reasons, including a weak script by Charles Hoffman and a mostly unmemorable score. In addition to songs by Moody and Sherrell, the title song was by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, and one song was by Joan Whitney and Alex Kramer.

A more lively, sharply written script and better supporting characters might have made more of the silly premise, but the end result, directed by George Marshall, is only middling -- and frankly downright weird at some points. That said, I had fun and would watch this 87-minute film again.

Crain is lovely and spunky, Nader is handsome, and I'm always happy to watch Rall dance. His dances include the previously mentioned dream ballet while his wife (Kitty Kallen) sings longingly, wishing he were home.

I also enjoyed Keith Andes (SPLIT SECOND) as the town minister and Mamie Van Doren (GUNS, GIRLS AND GANGSTERS) as the goofy miss who captures his heart.

The supporting cast also includes Bert Lahr, Jimmy Boyd, Mary Marlo, and Paul Gilbert. Look for Barrie Chase as a dancer in the "Travelin' Man" number.

THE SECOND GREATEST SEX was followed at Cinecon by a rarely seen 20th Century-Fox "B" film, CHASING DANGER (1939), starring Preston Foster and Lynn Bari. I reviewed it a decade ago. It was glad to see it in a sparkling print!

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